(Photo: Marek Olbrzymek) During a walk in the forests outside Brno, Rudolf Těsnohlidek and his friends came across an abandoned baby that was left to freeze under a tree. The unmarried mother was eventually found and claimed she was hoping that the child would be discovered and given a better life. Unfortunately, such incidents were not uncommon in the early {…}
(Photo Brno: Marek Olbryzmek) Britten’s “Peter Grimes” is a director’s dream. Who is Grimes? It is certain he is a loner; an outsider and a social misfit open to fits of temper. Yet there is also a sensitive side to his nature that comes out intermittently throughout the opera, notably in his aria “Now the Great Bear and the Pleiades” {…}
(Photo: Marek Olbryzmek) Richard Strauss’ “Salome” is one of those operas that lives or dies through the performance of one singer. In this case, it is the soprano cast in the title role. If she cannot hold the audience’s attention, either because she is unable to bring the necessary energy and expressivity to her singing or because she does {…}
Photo: Patrik Borecky “Rusalka,” alone among Dvořák’s operas, has managed to establish itself across the opera world, while his other ten have largely been ignored outside his Czech homeland. One or two have managed to keep a small toehold on the international stage, but only just. It is a strange state of affairs, especially in the case of “The Jacobin.” {…}